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Category Archives: Internet

Got to Work

I was able to work today. The company that Life has allowed me to work for is vast.

Meaningful Digression about Writing and Editing

Unlike when I write and edit from home – which I am still willing to do, by the way, in the English language, I had a work colleague with me. In truth, I have had one case of having a junior work colleague with me ‘in person’. I have also worked with other people who were also working online.

Working as a professional writer and editor from home, the perception of who one’s work colleagues really are becomes bizarre. One may write something and mail it to someone. If a magazine, or newspaper or other customer buys it then the editorial staff have become work colleagues by becoming paying customers. Compared to many other jobs it is weird.

Back to main topic

The company I did work for let me have a uniform. Work uniforms: some of you have worn them. To some of you they are a sign of a lame work life. For others, they are a token of status – of having a job. I may not even be the only one who was able to view the thing much like a ‘team jersey’.

They told me to not wear the thing around too much.

Transformation

Transformation is what happens to that caterpillar that emerges as a butterfly. Transformation is what happens to some people if they go from having ‘not found God’ to ‘finding God’ or ‘getting a spiritual teacher’. Some find that their children transform from puberty. This can happen to people in both good and bad ways.

A lot of the time, the change is relatively minor. Maybe that’s not really true. I mean, when an actor or actress goes into character the transformation is not minor. For ….this is really me just guessing, 50% of workers going into the job is a lot like going on stage. One does not have to be entirely false but many are also not feeling ‘free to be themselves’. Those of you who ‘get it’, can see why the simple action that I will describe below is a transformation.

All I did was don the work uniform. Today, what made it most amusing or unusual was that I did it in a cubicle at a bank. The reason was that I wanted to arrive on time ready for work. I went to the bank as an ordinary customer. That was myself as ‘a private person’ rather than as ‘part of a gigantic global corporation’. LOL, but I am glad that I am not part of the Borg now….blogging as Borg….but wow, it is a big company and I am connecting with you through weird technology rather than old and ‘in person’ ways.

Another meaningful digression

Who are we kidding? I wrote both professionally and as an amateur in this language – in this case the point is not about criticizing my abilities but rather to point out that most professional writers work at a distance. I had to be told to try working more locally. My record longest distance contracts at this point were the ones from Kuwait to Indianapolis, and the ones from Singapore and India. I did not do that many of those, but yes.

Back to Transformation

So anyway, I put on the uniform and felt ‘ta da’ transformed. In truth, I did not feel like I had suddenly turned into someone else. Thank God, actually. One might expect that from psychosis or abusive trauma or strong doses of psychedelic drugs or ‘intense meditation’ ….it wasn’t anything like that.

The subjective sensation was so real, and yet so simple. We all know one way or another how it is to be part of something greater than ourselves but how that is, can be funny or profound.

I took the thing off again after work. The actual work was nothing to be ashamed of nor proud of. The work was not in any of the fields in which I have some kind of personal passion. I also did not hate it. My emotion about it was similar to how I feel when I do house work that needs doing except for a small pleasure knowing that I had some ‘social status improvement from working for pay’ and that I would be paid. My work colleague did not bother me and I was happy to have a colleague right there with me and that we worked as a close team. It was a pleasure I experienced in contrast to the type of pleasure I get from writing something up and just emailing it to the customer/client/boss who reviews it and then sends me an email about whether or not that is okay.

After post notes

Yesterday, I became excited because I read that more than 100 people began to follow the blog. This is even though there are no ‘beefcake images’ and ‘no visible boobs’. Somehow I feel almost proud of you for that. In all seriousness, if any of you have a nice little story about feeling transformed please drop them in the comments.

‘Real engagement’ is always great, and if you do enough you can raise my awareness of many of you ‘as real people who are actually there’.

Recently, I was stunned when a man I knew personally read some of my blog. Our relationship still hasn’t ‘recovered’ despite my belief that it is good that someone read my blog who I also interacted with in person. If that seems weird, go back to the paragraph about writers.

What are chakras?

These are the names for some locations along the trunk and head of the human body associated with particularly large or intense amount of energy. In some cases, they are associated with nerve channels or internal organs or bodily functions. They are often referred to as ‘wheels’ or as ‘lotus’ or ‘energy centers’.

Why do they matter?

Depending on your social circles sometimes they turn up as a kind of jargon. Metaphysical or spiritual people may often seem to refer to chakras, to auras, astrology, past lives, deities, yoga – jargon of this nature.

Those who practice hands on healing of most kinds, and acupuncture or acupressure consider chakras in relation to the body’s ‘meridians’ (which generally means nerve channels) and they are therefore relevant to health care.

People who practice yogas and other types of fitness training intended to balance the energies in the body often refer to chakras in relation to those.

Super powers?!

Depending on your own life, you may first hear of chakras in relation to what seem like some kinds of super powers. Spiritual people and occultists seem to both advertise and protectively guard knowledge and insight about the super powers associated with ‘open chakras’.

What every one of the so-called super powers are, is heightened awareness that makes perception transpersonal to a degree considered to be far beyond ‘normal’. These are often interpreted as or believed to be ‘psychic’ – genuinely transpersonal awareness.

In detail, the whole matter is more complicated but if you had no idea this is a good, clear intro to the subject.

Have you noticed how one of the changes of the 21st century is that the amount of time people spend on hold has increased? There are multiple reasons for this. One is that so many people are on the Internet and mechanized service responses have grown…Which means people call in and a machine sorts the call and then people wait. What is so great about this is when people wait around at home rather than in traffic jams. What is not so great about this is dealing with being on hold.

Often being on hold is like a miniature review session about how time is perceived. Even though we can spend hours doing what we love, especially if we have ‘zoned into’ what we are doing, being on hold for even 5 seconds can make us feel like prisoners being treated unjustly, or like demons ready to destroy the low-lifes on the other end who have done this to us.

In reality, online and telephone technical services have improved over the years. Never before has being able to explain how to do something in words when not able to see been such a valuable skill. Most customer service agents do not earn a lot of money themselves, but some get more or less. Despite that, the ability to analyze and solve problems over the phone is more valuable as a marketable skill than ever before in history.

How to cope with time spent on hold? That depends a lot on which type of device you are using and what your context is.

If you are in a social context, I highly recommend exchange some polite or friendly body language or even speech with those around you in body but not in social media. If not, one must choose carefully. Needless to say, one does not wish to put down or pull away from the phone to do something while on hold only to end up sobbing because one missed the call and has to start over.